


Fever Days

by Bandity



Series: Voltron Whump Week [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fever, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Obsessive/questionable coping mechanisms, Voltron Whump Week, mild hallucinations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 20:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11813649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandity/pseuds/Bandity
Summary: Keith was always good at being alone. A fever didn't change that.





	Fever Days

**Author's Note:**

> So in my last fic, I asked if people liked longer or shorter one shots and everyone said they liked the longer one shots. But now I'm doing Whump week which is a series of slightly rushed, shorter one shots. So, I'm sorry about that. I didn't ignore people, I'm just really excited to participate in whump week. Posting something under 9K is weird for me now. 
> 
> Anyway, this is kind of an expansion from Disappear Completely, and while it's nice if you've read that, you don't have to.

Keith ignored the tightness in his chest for days. He was fine. Perfectly fine. It was just a cold. No need to panic.

It wasn’t until he woke up shaking with chills that he realized he had spiked a high fever.

He was then irritated more than anything. In frustration, he kicked off his blankets. He wanted to just curl up in them and keep sleeping, but he wasn’t a child and he knew it wasn’t good to wrap up with a fever. He needed to stay hydrated, try not to get too warm and rest.

With no blankets, he let himself drift in and out of a troubled sleep for a long time. Eventually, he forced himself out of bed and reached for a water pouch. He usually had a few unfinished ones that sat by his bed. The water tasted warm and stale, but it was better than nothing.

 _Ignore the way your arms hurt, ignore the pain in your neck, your headache isn’t that bad, you have to drink fluids, you have to keep going._ Keith collapsed back onto the bed, empty water pouch dropping to the side. _Sleep now. Sleep and hope that it gets better by the time you wake up_. In the morning he would find painkillers and he would carry on as usual. He just needed to sleep a little bit longer.

* * *

 

Keith awoke to the feeling of a hand on his forehead. Through blurred vision he saw a familiar figure. Shiro was there, sitting on the edge of his bed, checking his temperature.

He thought he could hear Shiro telling him something. He sounded worried. Shiro cared so much sometimes. Keith had a hard time understanding how deeply someone could care about others, about _him_. Though, if Keith stopped to think about it, he worried for the rest of the team too. The depth of his concern and protectiveness of the others ran deep. He would do anything for his team. He was sure of it.

“You’ll be okay. Just rest now,” Shiro’s voice faded in and out like an old, ill-tuned radio.

Keith’s eyes drifted shut again. Surely he would be okay now; Shiro would take care of it.

 

* * *

 

The next time he awoke it was because someone had plopped a freezing cold hand on his head and started swearing profusely. He didn’t even realize Pidge could talk like that.

“Whoa, is he dead?” Lance’s voice cut into the profane tirade.

“He better not be,” Pidge said in warning. As though she could threaten Keith back into good health. Her tone softened slightly as Keith’s eyes fluttered open.

“Keith, why didn’t you say you were sick?”

“’m…fine.”

“You’re not fine. You’re burning up,” Pidge said in exasperation.  

“Shiro said I’d be fine,” Keith’s eyes drifted shut again and he turned his head away from Pidge’s icy hand.

“Shiro said?” Pidge’s voice had become too quiet. Keith wondered why everyone sounded so far away.

“Pidge…” Lance sounded upset suddenly.

“I’ll go get Coran. He’ll know what to do.”

Pidge quickly left, leaving Lance to watch Keith start coughing roughly into his pillow.

The fit soon passed and Keith gasped in great gulps of air. Lance could hear it rattling in his lungs and he wondered how long Keith had been fighting to seem well in front of all of them. Though… he had said he was tired yesterday, but that wasn’t anything new. They were all tired.

Lance absently reached down to pick up a discarded water pouch. Finding it empty, he pushed it to the side to throw away later. He noticed the edge of another pouch sticking out from underneath the bed and he picked it up and set it on the edge of the mattress. Curious, Lance slipped down on the floor and looked to see if there was more under the bed.

There was a pause while Lance’s eyes adjusted to what he was seeing.

“Oh, Keith,” Lance lamented as he pulled out several other pouches and a collection of ration bars. He also found what looked like a chunk of bread, wrapped in a cloth and well on its way to going stale.

“Man, you could have said something. You didn’t need to start doing this.” Lance set his chin in his hand as he studied the hoarded food. He glanced over and actually jumped to see Keith’s eyes open and staring at him. Keith was still bleary eyed, but he definitely looked more aware.

He sat up partially, saw that Lance had uncovered his food stash and he frowned deeply. He looked up at Lance and just continued to stare at him.

“Keith,” Lance cleared his throat, “You told me you didn’t hoard food anymore.”

Keith let himself fall back into the mattress and threw one arm over his eyes. Honestly, he had a headache and he wasn’t feeling up to this conversation.

“Can you just leave it? Just… leave it alone.”

“Well, wait. Did you just _start_ doing it again? I mean… are you alright?”

Sometime ago, Keith had mentioned hoarding food as a child, he had said it was a means of comfort, but that he didn’t do that anymore. So Lance figured that Keith had either been lying or he had just started the habit up again.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Keith muttered, sounding miserable.  

"I won’t. But Keith… is it… is it because of Shiro?”

Instead of answering, Keith groaned and began coughing roughly. Lance quickly swept most of the secret rations back under the bed and handed Keith a water pouch.

Keith drank the water greedily, it helped ease his scratchy throat. Lance carefully perched himself back on the edge of the bed and watched him intently.

“Stop thinking about it. It’s not worth thinking about,” Keith mumbled.

"But if you’re doing it because you don’t feel safe or… or grounded or something, I just want to help.”

Keith groaned at the pain in his chest. He didn’t want to talk about it, he felt horrible and he just wanted to be left alone in his misery. Couldn’t Lance just let it go? Was it really the time to talk about a weird compulsion that Keith couldn’t explain, even if he wanted to?

Keith resolutely rolled over, away from Lance. He dully stared at the wall and hoped Lance would get the message.

“Keith?” Lance tried to get his attention. Keith didn’t respond and Lance wondered what he should say.

A moment later, Keith felt the blanket he had discarded earlier, gently placed over him. Lance was tucking him in like a little kid. Keith scoffed at the idea.

“Not good for the fever,” Keith muttered.

“Just one blanket. Just one blanket shouldn’t be too bad. You look uncomfortable without it.”

Keith could sleep with or without a blanket, but Lance probably felt the comfort was necessary. Well, it did make him feel less exposed. It was nice…

“Keith,” Lance suddenly spoke too loudly. He grimaced as Lance’s voice cut through his headache. “I’ll make you a deal, okay?”

Keith groaned in response and Lance took it as a sign of agreement.

“I won’t tell anyone about you hoarding food, but…” Here, Lance paused apparently for dramatic effect, “… the next time you start feeling bad, you have to let someone know. Alright?”

Keith didn’t respond.

“And I don’t just mean like a fever and stuff. Y'know? If you’re… sad. You can talk to us. Pidge or Hunk or Coran or Allura or me. You could talk to me about it. I know it’s not the same without Shiro, but you don’t have to do everything by yourself. Okay?”

There was a pause while Keith just took in a few raspy breaths.  

“Hey, did you fall asleep? Did you hear me?” Lance leaned forward, getting ready to jab Keith in his side with an elbow.

“I heard you.”

“Okay, do we have a deal?”

“Yeah,” Keith breathed the word out as though it was a sigh.

“Alright.” Lance only let the silence go on for another few ticks before he spoke up again. “Hey Keith?”

Keith didn’t respond right away, deciding his head hurt too much for any more talking.

“Keith?”

Keith finally grunted in response. Lance sounded like he wouldn’t leave it alone if he didn’t answer him.

“Did you really see Shiro?”

“It was just a dream, Lance.”

“But, I mean, maybe he was really trying to talk to you, maybe, I mean if there was a way, he would… wouldn’t he?” There was a moment of silence while Lance shifted his weight. “Keith?”

“My head hurts.”

“Alright,” Lance said slowly.

At that moment, Pidge returned with Coran. The man began to fuss over Keith as much as the boy would allow him to.

"You’re burning up,” Coran said with a hand on Keith’s forehead. “That’s not a safe temperature for humans,” he remarked in an offhand way. Keith was soon given a pain reliever, fever reducers, a cool cloth for his head and fresh water to drink.

“If you don’t improve in a varga, we’ll look into some different medicine. Just rest for now.”

Keith had remained compliant as he was prodded at and given different medicines to take. He didn’t like having this many people in his room. It was starting to feel claustrophobic. He shut his eyes and willed himself to go back to sleep. Just go back to sleep and when he woke up he would feel better.

Hopefully.

 

* * *

 

Keith awoke sometime later to hushed whispering. As his mind drifted to consciousness he recognized the voices of Pidge, Lance and Hunk. Seriously. Why couldn’t they just let him be miserable in peace? Why were they all _here_?

Keith must have frowned because the chatter in the room died down suddenly.

“I think he’s waking up.”

“Maybe he’s just having another nightmare.”

“But his fever went down vargas ago.”

Wait. How long had it been? Had he been having nightmares? Had they really been here the whole time?

Keith blinked his eyes open, squinting in the room’s light. His team was standing at his bedside, they were blurry around the edges, but he could see their looks of concern.

“He’s awake!” Hunk exclaimed.

“Welcome back,” Pidge smiled.

“Yeah, you look a lot better than before,” Lance added with a grin.

Keith just blinked. He felt a lot better. Though his skin felt a bit clammy and his shirt was still damp where he had sweat through it at some point.

“Why are you all here?” Keith was still bewildered by it. It had just been a fever. They hadn’t needed to stay at his bedside.

“I made soup. Are you hungry? I can bring some up,” Hunk was already starting to head out the door.

“No, I’m fine.”

Lance was giving him a disapproving look. So, apparently, that was the wrong answer.

“I mean, in a little while. I will eat. I just need to wake up first.” Keith glanced to Lance and the boy nodded at him in approval.

“Hey, so you’ve been asleep forever,” Lance complained. “But I guess you needed it.”

“You all didn’t have to stay.” He really didn’t understand why they would all camp out here. It's not like it was comfortable on his floor.

“We’ve been taking shifts.” Pidge explained.

“Didn’t have to.”

“Keith, we don’t mind, man,” Lance sighed.

"Yeah, come on. Nobody should have to be all alone when they’re sick.” Hunk was still hovering by the door, ready to go get the soup if he was asked.

"It’s nothing I’m not used to,” Keith responded. When he was met with an odd silence, he looked up to see them all giving him weird looks.

They looked sad.

Keith realized he had said something wrong again. Something to make them all look at him like that. It had only been the truth though. Keith had become used to being alone when he was sick. He could take care of himself. He was okay.

But now they were all looking at him like that...

“Keith…” Lance started and he became worried that Lance was about to tell his secret. They had made a deal hadn’t they? Keith’s brain was a little foggy, but it was something about talking to people, telling people if he was sad…

“I think I can eat that soup now.”

Hunk jumped at the mention of his creation.

“You got it! I’ll be right back!” Hunk quickly took off to retrieve the food.

“Did everyone else eat already?” Keith asked, glancing at Lance. Lance nodded.

“Yeah, everyone is taken care of. You just need to worry about yourself.”

“Okay, good.” Keith was beginning to feel fatigue pull at him. It was surprising how easily his energy left him. He leaned back in his bed and shut his eyes. Before they knew it, Keith had fallen asleep again.

“He’s really overdone it lately,” Pidge commented. “This is just going to keep happening, if he keeps it up.”

Lance only nodded in response.

“Think he’ll be alright?” Pidge asked as she replaced the cool cloth on his forehead.

“Yeah,” Lance smiled softly. “I think he’ll be okay.”

When Hunk returned to the room with a warm bowl of soup in hand, he was only mildly disappointed that Keith had fallen back to sleep. They all settled down to continue waiting for him, their quiet talking and poignant concern filling the room with a warmth that was often difficult to find while they fought out in space, so far from home.  

Keith sighed deeply in his sleep. Lance grinned to himself, thinking it sounded a lot like contentment.  


End file.
